Jitter VoIP

Are you struggling to be heard during a VoIP call? The cause might be due to a common problem called jitter or jitter VoIP (i.e. voice over Internet protocol).

Unfortunately, delays and problems sometimes impact the call. When packet loss occurs, your audio quality suffers. At best, a delay in packet transmission means short interruptions. At worse, packet jitter means entire words are lost. Fortunately, the loss of a single packet may not be noticeable. However, when more packets are lost, the entire packet stream might be disrupted. That means your conversation could be badly disrupted.

What is a network jitter?

Network jitter refers to the amount of variation in the latency of receiving packets. For example, packet one arrives in 5 milliseconds, packet two arrives in 10 milliseconds, and packet network arrives in 30 milliseconds. In this example, network latency is gradually getting worse over time. If this happened to VoIP traffic, your conversation may become difficult to understand. It might be caused by high network congestion or inadequate VoIP speed due to a slow Internet connection.

All networks have network jitter to some degree. A small internal network like a private network of two computers in the same room would generally have close to zero network jitter. In contrast, a global company may have network connections in many different locations and, therefore, more jitter.

Causes of jitter on VoIP calls

To understand how jitter issues result in poor call quality, it is helpful to understand the sources of jitter. Some causes of poor call quality may be easily fixed by your VoIP phone provider. Other poor voice quality causes, like a misconfigured router, may be more challenging.

• download speeds and upload speeds – Internet speed is often a factor when you suffer poor call quality on video calls or VoIP phone calls. Upgrading your wireless router or paying for a higher connection speed can help.
• misconfigured network – Changing your network settings to give priority to phone calls can help right away. Ask your network operations department (or IT support) for help with a misconfigured network.
• faulty hardware – Over time, hardware breaks down from use. For example, you might have a faulty Ethernet cable connecting your laptop to the Internet. In that case, indecipherable calls and sound quality problems will occur.
• failing to use business VoIP – Business VoIP systems are designed to deliver high-quality VoIP calls. Using a basic consumer VoIP system, quality problems like choppy audio may be hard to avoid. That’s why your VoIP requirements should be clear about your acceptable jitter levels.
• VoIP call quality settings – Spending some time reviewing the settings and features of your VoIP provider at a granular level is sometimes needed. The default settings may not be appropriate for your Internet service provider or network equipment. Also, look into advanced functionalities like jitter buffer, and audio echo cancellation.

Effects of jitter on VoIP calls

Now that we’ve covered the technical overview, it’s time to cover an essential practical point. How exactly does excessive jitter impact your VoIP calls? There are two main ways jitter impacts your VoIP service.

• clipped words – Small amounts of jitter cause relatively small quality issues. For example, one or two words in a sentence might be inaudible.
• disruptions in service and drop-outs – With a degraded network connection, your call may disconnect for several seconds. Particularly bad VoIP jitter can cause the conversation to disconnect completely.

How to conduct a network jitter test?

A very low level of jitter will have a minimal impact on your audio signal. It’s recommended to test your level of jitter before important calls. Fortunately, there are free bandwidth tests you can use to compare your network connection to industry standards.

Consider trying one of the following apps to run a network jitter test.

If you don’t want to use a specialized software tool, you can estimate jitter manually. Open a command window (in Windows, press the Windows key and type in CMD) and run a ping command to a website. You can then paste your results into a jitter calculator.

What is a good jitter score?

A good jitter score is less than 30 ms (i.e., 30 milliseconds).

What is acceptable jitter for VoIP?

Aim for a jitter of 30 milliseconds or less to avoid jitter issues while making calls on your VoIP service. To boost performance further, reduce your jitter as much as possible. For example, use quality of service (QoS) technology to prioritize VoIP calls.

How much jitter is bad for VoIP?

Generally speaking, VoIP service may have problems when jitter goes above 30 milliseconds. To improve your call quality, there are a few areas you can look at.

What are the reasons for high jitter?

There are several reasons for high jitter. Check all of these to successfully identify the issue.

• connection speed – Start by reviewing the maximum speed offered by your Internet service provider. A low connection speed is a top cause for high jitter, so make an effort to get the fastest service you can afford.
• upload speeds and download speeds – The next reason for high jitter is low download speed and upload speed.
• network traffic – VoIP speed may suffer if your network traffic is overwhelmed. To manage this challenge, program your router to emphasize VoIP speed.

Troubleshooting tips for fixing jitter

There are a few ways to reduce jitter and get better VoIP calls.

• VoIP requirements – Start by reviewing the minimum requirements needed for VoIP calls.
• wireless router settings – Review the settings and features on your router. For example, will get better speeds using the 5 GHz frequency instead of 2.4 GHz.
• network administration – If business growth is a priority, ask your network department to help you reduce jitter. They may have additional tips you can use to address insufficient bandwidth problems.

Expert’s note

Jitter in VoIP can cause frustrating call quality issues and negatively impact customer satisfaction. It's important to address and resolve these issues promptly to provide a superior customer experience.

Andrej Saxon Sales manager

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